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it was a quiet night at the fitz home. celia sat on an armchair next to the fireplace, feet tucked beneath herself and reading a book. there was a loud frantic knock at the front door, startling celia out of her concentration. she practically fell over as she jumped out of her seat and raced to the front door. celia looked out of the peephole and then yanked open the front door, peering down at peter and finn shelby.
"what are you two doing here? you scared the daylights out of me." celia asked. finn grinned a little and looked up at the woman.
"tommy and john are paying two bob for your picture of the king." he said with a giggle. peter laughed besides him. "da' said to bring it to watery lane, c'mon!"
"what on earth does he want with the photo of the king?" celia asked, but the children just pleaded with her until she came along. after grabbing the framed photo from off of the mantle and locking the front door, the children dragged her down the road and to watery lane.
"hello, finn lad!" scud said as they approached the beginning of the road. there was only a small entrance to get down the lane, effectively blocking it off. "alright, scud!" finn replied. the boy was leading the way, peter following close behind and pulling celia along by the hand. she could see a large fire in the distance.
"what on gods green earth is going on?" she whispered to herself, gently tightening her grip on peters hand. dozens of people were making their way down the lane, and it was clear as day what was going on once they get closer. people were one by one throwing their photo of the king into the fire.
finn and peter pulled away from celia once they got to the front of the fire. to her left she could see tommy, arthur, and john. arthur expertly spit the cork of his bottle right into the fire. celia slid in next to tommy and hesitantly touched his arm with light fingertips. his head snapped over to the girl who he quickly flashed a warm smile. "right then, throw it in, fitz." he said with a nod. at the mention of her surname, johns gaze slid over to the girl. he couldn't believe she was down here. although at the same time he could once he saw his son had a grip on the side of celias dress. it was then he knew that the boy had the idea to get her.
celia and john made eye contact, he nodded toward the photo she was holding and then glanced at the fire. the girl looked between the three brothers near her before chucking the photo into the roaring flames. the boys cheered for her. "atta girl, fitz!" arthur yelled. for a moment she thought she saw a proud little smirk come across even johns face.
after a few moments of chatter that celia wasn't involved in, tommy slid away into the dark and arthur went to fetch another drink. the two young shelby boys began playing games with each other a little farther away from the fire. this night was effectively becoming a bonding moment for all of watery lane.
silently john and celia stood next to each other. john was the first one to break the silence. "i can't believe you actually threw it in. you've always been the good girl, never thought you would disgrace the king like that.
celia scoffed. "yes, and you've always been the one who got me to break the rules." john smirked at the answer. he fully knew the influence he had on celia. they quickly fell into an odd silence, neither really knowing what else to say until john once again broke it. that man could never stand the quiet.
"the kids love you, you know." he said simply. this brought a small smile to celias face. although it hadn't been long she definitely was getting very attached to the children. she had always loved kids.
"they're wonderful. a bit wild, but they just need a little reigning in. that jane of yours is as bright as they come." she said.
"just like her namesake," john murmured before clearing his throat. celia glanced sideways at him, unsure of the meaning behind his words. deciding to change the subject celia finally became to one to break the next set of quiet.
"i haven't seen ada around since i got back. have you?" the girl asked before stepping closer to the fire, wanting to escape the nipping cold.
"she's been around. been an ass as usual, messing around where she shouldn't be." john said with distaste. he then shrugged out of his long overcoat and held it out to celia. "here." he said. there was no room for argument but the girl in front of him of course pushed back.
"no- john. i don't need it." she said, crossing her arms in stubbornness. john ignored the girl and placed the coat over her shoulders. celia slowly slid her arms into the sleeves and pulled it around herself.
"drop your mouth, i can feel your smirk." celia shot out quickly. john let out a cackle and glanced at his pocket watch.
"'should get going, it's getting late." john mentioned and celia nodded. she turned to start waking away when she noticed john was following her. she narrowed her eyes at him and stopped walking.
"what are you doing?" she asked. john kept walking in front of her. "i'm walking you home. wouldn't want my kids nanny to get mugged now would i?" he said with a faux serious shrug. celia punched the back of johns shoulder and quickened her stride to get in front of john and be in the lead. this resulted in the two of them attempting to out speed walk each other to get in the front and ultimately breaking out into a race. the duo ran down the dark roads, gently shoving each other to get ahead until the reached celias doorstep. by that time they were laughing like children, and left themselves leaning over and panting.
"jesus- i can barely catch my- ugh. i haven't lost my breath like this in ages." celia breathed out, leaning against the door. through ragged breaths john managed to spit out a few crude words. "i know what else could make you loose your breath like this," he said with a smirk and a wink.
"shut up you hag," celia said, pushing him away from her with one hand and unlocking her door with the other. john only cackled loudly, clearly proud of his joke.
"goodnight lia!" he called out, backing away slowly. through a half cracked door celia smiled to herself at the old nickname. "goodnight john shelby," she said before closing and locking the door.
hi friends! i've decided to rewrite this book a little, i'll continue to add new chapters but i'll be going back through to edit the older ones. if the gif is replaced with a mini moodboard then that's the final edited version. thanks for your patience :)
